Notes: Clemson 68, Virginia 52

Jan. 8, 2002

Clemson vs. Virginia Notes

*Clemson’s 68-52 victory over fifth ranked (USA Today) Virginia was the largest margin of victory by the Tigers against a Top five team since January 2, 1980 when Clemson defeated North Carolina 93-76 at Littlejohn Coliseum.

Tonight’s win was Clemson’s 50th in history over a top 25 teamat home, its 46th in Littlejohn Coliseum. Clemson’s first win overa top 25 team in Littlejohn was against Virginia on January 28,1971, 45-44. Virginia was 15th in the AP poll heading into thatgame. This was Clemson’s first win over a top 20 Virginia teamsince January 19, 1980. Clemson defeated a 12th ranked (AP)Virginia team led by freshman Ralph Sampson, 88-68 at LittlejohnColiseum. This was just the sixth time Clemson has beaten a top 25Virginia team. It was the highest ranked Virginia team Clemson hasbeaten in history. The previous high was a 12th ranked Virginiateam on January 19, 1980. This was the fourth top 25 win for LarryShyatt as Clemson head coach, the sixth of his coaching career (twoas head coach at Wyoming). Five of his six career top 25 wins havebeen over top 10 teams. That includes the win over #1 NorthCarolina last year. Virginia shot just 2-25 on three-point attemptsin the game and the 8 percent accuracy was the best three-pointpercentage defense of the Larry Shyatt era. Virginia entered thegame leading the ACC in three-point percentage accuracy with a .388mark. Clemson was last in the league entering the game with a .292figure. Tonight’s .421 figure for the Tigers was just the fifthtime this year Clemson has shot better than 40 percent onthree-point shots. The best effort of the season was a 9-15shooting figure against Charleston Southern. Clemson is now 4-1when shooting at least 40 percent on threes. The only loss is atDuke when Clemson was 6-12. Jamar McKnight scored a career high 25points in the contest and now has 47 points in Clemson’s two ACCwins. He had 22 against Georgia Tech last Saturday. Edward Scott’s17 points were his high total since he had 21 against Elon onDecember 15th. Since missing his first four shots against GeorgiaTech, giving him a streak of 18 straight misses, Scott is 10-18from the field, including 5-8 on three-point goals. Three of thefive have been from 25 feet out. This was just the fifth game allyear Clemson has made more three-point goals than the opposition.Clemson is now 5-0 in those games. Entering tonight’s game, Clemsonhad been outscored by 108 points on three-point goals. Tonight,Clemson was +18. This is the first time since the Feb. 14-17, 1999that Clemson has won consecutive conference games. Clemson defeatedFlorida State on the 14th and Virginia on the 17th that year. Thisis the first time Clemson has won consecutive conference games withone of the wins a victory on the road since 1997-98. That yearClemson finished the ACC regular season schedule with a win at NCState and a home victory over Georgia Tech. Clemson shot 53.3percent from the field in the second half of tonight’s game.Clemson has now shot at least 50 percent in the second half of fourof the last five games. Clemson shot 60 percent from the field inthe second half against Tech last Saturday. Clemson has won twoconsecutive conference games even though its bench has scored justfour points in each game.